SPEECH 

OF 

HON.  EUGENE  HALE, 

OF  IVIAINE, 
ON 

NATIONAL  EXPENDITURES, 

ECONOMY  IN  THE  PAST  and  ECONOMY  IN  THE  FUTURE, 

IN  THE 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES, 

JANUARY  25,  1876. 


WASHINGTON. 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


II 0  X . 


SPEECH 

OF 

EUGENE 


HALE. 


The  House  being  as  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  and  having  under  consideration 
the  bill  (H.  R  Nor.  810)  making  appropriations  for  the  support  of  the  Military  Acad- 
emy for  the  tiscal  year  ending  June  30, 1877— 

Mr.  HALE  said : 

Mr.  Chairman  :  The  Committee  on  Appropriations  is  now  fairly 
entering  upon  its  work  for  this  session,  and  I  have  deemed  it  fitting  to 
take  some  survey  of  the  suhject-matters  that  will  come  before  the 
I  [ouse  this  winter  in  the  way  of  appropriations.  The  field,  Mr.  Chair- 
man, is  a  broad  one.  Our  annual  expenditures  are  immense.  Govern- 
ments, like  families,  cost  more  and  more  as  they  grow;  and  the  cost  of 
governments,  like  that  of  families,  is  apt  to  increase  in  a  geometrical 
ratio  with  their  growth. 

Any  man  who  contrasts  the  population  and  the  wealth  of  this  coun- 
try now  with  what  they  were  in  the  first  days  of  the  Government  will 
be  reconciled  to  a  great  advance  in  its  expenses.  In  that  wonder- 
ful chapter  of  Macaulay,  wherein  he  presents  the  material  condition 
of  Great  Britain  at  the  time  when  the  crown  passed  from  Charles  II 
to  his  brother,  the  historian  notes,  as  a  remarkable  fact,  that  in  the 
time  covered  by  two  long  lives  the  taxation  of  the  British  people 
had  been  increased  thirty-fold.  We  have,  Mr.  Chairman,  owing  to 
great  events  in  our  history,  especially  owing  to  the  events  of  the  last 
fifteen  years,  gone  beyond  \%hat  in  Great  Britain  seemed  startling  to 
Macaulay.  It  could  hardly  have  been  imagined  by  any  person  liv- 
ing in  the  administration  of  John  Quincy  Adams  that  in  fifty  years 
from  that  time  there  would  be  collected  from  the  American  people  an- 
nually and  spent  in  one  way  or  another  nearly  $300,000,000.  There  is  no 
subject  of  greater  interest  to  the  people  than  that  involved  in  the  ques- 
tion of  how  all  this  money  is  spent,  and  it  is  for  that  reason  that  I  have 
ventured  to  trespass  upon  the  attention  of  the  House  at  this  time. 

In  starting  it  is  worth  while  to  bear  in  mind  that,  in  time  of  pro- 
found peace,  with  uo  war  apparently  lowering  upon  the  horizon,  and 
no  preparation  for  war  being  made,  the  last  Administration  before 
the  rebellion  broke  out — that  of  Mr.  Buchanan — spent  in  one  year 
$75,000,000;  and  during  its  continuance  ran  the  Government  in  debt 
nearly  $100,000,000. 

The  war  launched  us  into  an  almost  fathomless  sea  of  expenditure. 
There  is  nothing,  sir,  that  wastes  like  war.  The  things  that  we  actually 
ueeded  cost  enormously.  The  thiugs  that  we  wasted  in  overcost  and 
over-supply,  in  "  cutting  our  eye-teeth,"  to  use  a  New  England  phrase — 
by  building  up  the  fortunes  and  learning  the  ways  of  swindling  con- 
tractors and  thieves— cost  us  nearly  as  much  more.  And  while  we  were 
undergoing  this  experience  we  heaped  up  additionally  the  measure  of 
indebtedness  that  we  must  meet  in  time  of  peace  by  going  through  the 
dance  of  inflation,  which  doubled  and  trebled  the  cost  of  everything 
that  we  actually  had  or  were  cheated  into  believing  that  we  had. 

"What  wonder  then  that  the  figures  leaped  up  from  tens  of  millions 


to  hundreds  of  millions,  and  that,  marvelous  as  were  the  efforts  of 
our  people  in  the  payment  of  taxes  to  keep  down  the  public  debt,  so 
great  beyond  this  was  the  demand  at  the  rime  that  we  piled  up  a  na- 
tional indebtedness  that  will,  to  meet  principal  and  interest,  mort- 
gage the  lives  of  generations. 

I  have  here  a  table  giving  the  figures  of  the  net  expenditures  of 
the  Government  for  the  years  from  1856  to  1875,  inclusive.  It  begins 
at  $69,571,025.79  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1856.  In  1865  it  reaches 
as  high  as  $1,297,555,224.41,  and  in  1875,  $274,623,392.  In  these  nine- 
teen years  the  culminating  point  of  expenditure  was  reached  in  the 
year  that  the  war  ended,  when,  as  I  have  .said,  it  was  more1,  than 
$1,200,000,000.  From  that  day  the  expenditures  have  been  falling  in 
the  years  immediately  succeeding  the  war  by  tremendous  steps  and 
more  gradually  since,  the  scale  that  we  nowspend  being  for  the  year 
ending  June  30,  1875,  $274,623,392.84. 

Net  ordinary  I  yet  ordinary 

Tear.  expenditures.     Year.  expenditure's. 

1856   ¥69,571,025  79     1866   $520,  809,  416  99 

1857   67,795,707  66     1867   357,542,675  16 

1858   74,185,270  39     1868   377,340,284  86 

1859   69,070,976  74     1869   322,865,277  80 

1860   63, 130,  598  39     1870   309,653,560  75 

1861   66,  546,  644  89     1871   292,177,188  25 

1862   474,  761,818  91     1872   277,517,902  67 

1863   714,740,725  17     1873   290.345,245  33 

1864   865,322,641  97     1874   287,133,873  17 

1865   1,297,555,224  41  I  1875   274,623,392  84 

These  expenditures,  especially  of  the  greatest  years,  are  enormous. 
That  we  were  able  to  command  means  and  credit  to  the  extent  re- 
quired surprised  both  friends  and  enemies.  If  my  object  were  differ- 
ent,it  would  be  a  grateful  task  for  me  to  recall  to  the  memory  of  gen- 
tlemen before  me  the  Herculean  efforts  made  by  our  people  in  the  pay- 
ment of  taxes  to  keep  down  the  public  debt,  bearing  such  imposi- 
tions as  no  nation  ever  before  bore.  But  I  have  not  the  time  to  go 
into  that  matter.  I  will  only  say  that  in  the  years  between  1863  and 
1868,  inclusive,  the  American  people  paid  in  taxes  into  the  national 
Treasury  over  $2,200,000,000.    I  cannot  pursue  this  further. 

Any  gentleman  examining  this  column  of  figures  (and  they  are  taken 
from  the  official  reports  of  the  Treasurv  Department)  will  see  that 
from  1865  through  1867,  1868,  1869,  1870,  1871,  1872,  1873,  and  1874 
there  was  a  gradual  decrease  with  the  exception  of  the  year  1873, 
when  there  was  an  increased  appropriation  for  the  War  Department, 
and  the  expenditures  for  once  rose  beyond  that  of  the  preceding  year. 

I  have  not  the  time  to  go  into  details,  and  it  is  not  my  object  to  go 
back  to  all  those  years;  but  I  do  propose  to  bring  before  the  House 
the  work  which  has  been  done  in  the  direction  of  curtailing  expenses 
within  the  last  three  years.  In  the  first  session  of  the  Forty-third 
Congress,  in  the  year  1874,  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  on  my  left,  who 
was  then  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Appropriations,  [Mr.  Gar- 
field,] did  a  most  valuable  work,  for  which  every  student  of  the  ex- 
penditures of  the  Government  must  ever  thank  him.  We  were  then, 
as  now,  confronted  with  lessening  receipts  and  the  necessity  of  re- 
ducing appropriations  in  order  that  the  needsof  the  Government  might 
be  met  by  its  revenues.  General  Garfield,  whose  philosophical  mind 
and  practical  industry  are  well  known  to  the  country,  in  his  study  of 
the  subject  divided  the  whole  body  of  our  expenditures  into  three 
great  classes.  The  first  class  covered  amounts  paid  during  the  fiscal 
year  1873 — the  year  to  which  he  first  applied  his  classification — on 
account  of 


5 


EXPENSES  GROWING  DIRECTLY  OUT  OF  THE  LATE  WAR. 

They  included,  for  instance,  the  interest  on  the  public  debt,  more 
than  $100,000,000;  pensions,  nearly  thirty  millions:  expenses  of  the 
national  loan,  nearly  three  millions,  and  the  cost  of  collecting  the  in- 
ternal revenue,  which  was  an  imposition  caused  purely  by  the  war, 
and,  with  various  other  demands  for  payment  which  the  Government 
must  recognize,  growing  out  of  the  war,  ranging  in  some  cases  from 
a  few  thousand  dollars  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  in  other 
cases.  This  class  amounted  in  1873  to  $159,262,416.81.  Now  there 
was  then,  as  there  is  now,  no  shirking  of  this  bill.  It  came  to  us  as 
an  inheritance  of  the  war,  and  will  rest  upon  the  American  people 
until,  with  increasing  revenue  and  prosperity,  we  have  paid  the  prin- 
cipal of  the  public  debt  and  the  widows  and  orphans  and  soldiers  who 
are  pensioned  have  passed  forever  from  among  us.  But  until  then 
the  bill  for  this  class,  so  carefully  studied  and  prepared  by  the  gen- 
tleman from  Ohio,  [Mr.  Garfield,]  will  be  before  us,  I  repeat,  as 
one  which  cannot  be  shirked. 

The  second  classification,  covering  the  military  and  naval  establish- 
ments, amounted  in  1873 — the  military  appropriation  being  $32,524,- 
548.64  and  the  naval  $21,474, 433.61— in  the  aggregate  to  $53,998,982.25. 
The  third  class  covered 

THE  CIVIL  SERVICE, 

comprehending  all  expenditures  not  included  in  the  other  two  classes, 
embracing  salaries,  the  cost  of  collecting  customs,  public  buildings  for 
post-offices, custom-houses,  and  light-houses, expense  of  the  Post-Orrice 
Department  over  and  above  its  annual  revenue,  navy-yards,  and  vari- 
ous items,  amounting  in  all  to  $79,803,847.27. 

General  Garfield,  following  the  analytical  bent  of  his  mind,  calcu- 
lated t  he  percentages  of  expenditures  embraced  by  these  several  classes. 
The  first,  the  war  expenses,  were  54  per  cent,  of  our  entire  expenditures. 
The  military  establishments — the  War  and  Navy — were  18  per  cent. ; 
and  the  civil  service,  the  third  class,  embracing  all  not  comprehended 
in  the  others,  28  per  cent.  In  the  succeeding  year  the  same  analysis 
was  applied  to  the  expenditures  for  the  year  1874.  And  I  have  done 
the  same  tiling  in  a  table  I  have  here  for  the  last  yearof  1875.  I  have 
taken,  advantage  of  the  classification  of  my  friend  from  Ohio,  and  have 
carried  it  out  into  the  last  year  it  was  possible,  to  wit,  the  year  ending 
June  30,  1875,  the  last  fiscal  year  for  which  we  have  any  returns. 

It  is  an  interesting  matter  to  see  how  the  percentage  of  these  ex- 
penditures has  been  maintained.  In  the  last  fiscal  year,  the  last  we 
have  had.  the  war  expenses — those  incident  to  the  war — are  $147,882,- 
034.75,  or  53.7  per  cent,  of  the  expenses.  In  the  year  previous  this 
class  was  53.3  per  cent,  and  the  year  previous  to  that  54  per  cent. 
The  second  class,  including  the  military  establishments,  the  War  and 
Navy,  amounted  in  the  last  year  to  $48,314,499.50,  or  17.5  per  cent,  of 
the  whole.  And  here  is  a  fact  which  I  commend  to  the  gentlemen  on 
the  other  side  who  contemplate  an  attack  upon  these  establishments, 
that,  while  the  class  from  which  there  is  no  escape,  and  which  I  think 
few  gentlemen  would  be  in  favor  of  cutting  down,  has  about  main- 
tained itself  during  the  past  three  years,  the  War  and  Navy  estab- 
lishments for  the  year  ending  June  30, 1875,  amount  to  17.5  per  cent., 
while  during  the  previous  year  it  was  20.4  per  cent,  and  the  year 
before  18  per  cent. 

The  next  class,  including  the  general  civil  establishments,  amounts 
to  $78,4*20,858.59,  or  28.6  per  cent,  of  the  entire  expense,  against  25.9 
last  year  and  23  per  cent,  the  year  before. 

I  now  give  the  full  tables  : 


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9 


Total  expenditures  by  years. 


1873. 

1874. 

1875. 


FIRST  QR0UP. 

Amount  paid  directly  on  account 

of  the  late  war  

8157,  2'J2.  415  81 

•5154,171,130  50 

$147,  882,  034  75 

Per  cent,  of  whole  for  each  year. 

54. 

53.3 

53.7 

SECOND  UKOUP. 

53,  998,  982  25 

58,  093,  305  69 

43,  314.  499  50 

Per  cent,  of  whole  for  each  year. 

18. 

20.4 

17.5 

THIRD  GROUP. 

Civil  service  proper  

79,  083.  847  27 

74, 2G9,  473  57 

73,  426,  858  59 

Per  cent,  of  whole  for  each  year 

23. 

25.9 

28.6 

Total  

290,  345,  245  33 

287, 133,  909  76 

274,  623,  392  a4 

Now,  I  wish  to  invite  attention  to  the  work  of  Congress  in  the  first 
session  of  the  Forty-third  Congress  in  the  reduction  of  expenses,  as 
shown  in  the  appropriation  bills  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1875. 
My  friend  and  leader,  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Appropria- 
tions, will  be  glad  to  learn  how  much  the  road  in  which  he  is  so 
ardently  pressing  has  been  trodden  before.  The  following  table 
shows  the  difference  between  the  appropriations  for  the  years  1874 
and  1875.  It  is  taken  from  the  official  Treasury  digest  of  appropria- 
tions. 

Recapitulation  by  acts. 


Third  session 
Forty-second 
Congress,  fis- 
cal year  1874. 


First  session 
Forty- third 
Congress,  fis- 
cal year  1375. 


To  supply  deficiencies  in  the,  appropriations  for 
expenses  of  taking  ninth  census,  approved  De- 
cember 16,  1871   

To  supply  deficiencies  in  the  appropriations  for 
expenses  of  Joint  Select  Committee  on  alleged 
outrages  in  Southern  States,  approved  January 
16,  1872   

To  supply  deficiencies  in  the  appropriations  for 
salaries  and  contingent  expanses  of  the  Post- 
Othee  Department,  approved  February  20, 1872. 

To  supply  deficiencies  in  the  appropriations  for 
the  service  of  the  Government,  approved  May 
18,  1872,  and  January  8,  1873  

To  supply  deficiencies  in  the  appropriations  for 
the  service  of  the  Government,  approved 
March  3,  lb73,  and  June  22,  1374   

*For  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  expenses 
of  the  Government,  approved  May  8,  1872; 
March  3,  1873 ;  and  June  20,  1874. . . .'  

For  sundry  civil  expenses  of  the  Government,  ap- 
proved June  10,  ls72  ;  March  3,  lc-73  ;  and  June 
23,  1874   

For  support  of  the  Army,  approved  June  6, 1872 ; 


For  the  naval  service,  approved  May  23.  1872; 
March  3,  1373;  Deceruher  31,  1873;'  and  June 
6,  1374   


§1,  646,  833 

82 

9,  496,  406 

14 

84, 053,  812  39 

18, 170,  441 

18 

20,  753,  255  50 

32,  173,  257 

90 

26,  925, 746  88 

31,  796,  003 

81 

27,  788,  500  00 

22,  275,  707 

65 

20,  813,  946  70 

10 


Becapitulation  by  acts — Continued. 


Third  session 
Forty- second 
Congress,  fis- 
cal year  1874. 

First  session 
Forty  -third 
Congress,  fis- 
cal year  1875. 

For  the  Indian  service,  approved  May  2!),  1672 ; 

February  14.  18 1 3 :  and  June  22,  16 1 4  

For  rivers^  and  harbors,  approved  June  10.  1872: 

ATii-eli  "i  1  v7*}  .  oiwl  .Time        1  ^7 a 

For  forts  and  fortifications,  approved  June  10. 

1672  j  February  21.  Ie73  ;  and  April  3.  Is74 
For  support  of  Military  Academy,  approved  May 

9^  liCT9.  TVliviiirv  9fl   1B7'-i.  uiti  .Time  li  1>J7J 

—■-).   AC  i      ,   X  trUl  Hell  \    *.C.   J. C  J  .>  ,   tlllll  13  UlU     U,   ±C  *  1  ...  . 

For  service  of  Post-Office  Department,  approved 

Tunc  1    1  kTO  .  TWa.i-/>Vi  1    1  SiT'l  .  oinl   Turn.  •)'<  1874 

'j  ii  lit  i .  i^k:  jicii  ciio.  i  ~  to  j  aim  *j  one  ^o.  i~  ■  i . . 
For  invalid  and  other  pensions,  approved  Febru- 

arv  Ofl  i  i*o .  Jannaw  111  1 .  a.iut  Jnn«  9(1  1  S74 

OB.  J    (W,           —  .Uilllllill^   1W,  ir  j  j  ,  (U1II  ij  uur  i'l,  1.  It.. 

For  consular  and  diplomatic  service,  approved 
May  22,  1672;  February  22,  1673;  and  June  11, 
1674  

5,  505,  218  90 

7  tv>  ono  no 
t ,  oji,  joo  uu 

1,  899,  000  00 

QJJ   'J17  tut 
on.  o  l  t  ou 

R   AfIC,   COO  OO 

0.  UO.i  00 

to  4Pfl  nun  on 
ou.  icy,  uuu  \jv 

1 ,  .1 1 1 ,  3oU  00 

5,  538,  274  87 

^  ooi  oon  on 
O,  iSS6,  ouu  UO 

904.  000  00 
'via  cq^  oa 

ooy,  coo  OU 
7    1  —  ^    R lO  nn 

<,  1  i  J,  o4.i  UU 
oo  Q*n  nnn  oo 

3,  4  4,  804  00 

VP  tl  Vt  '-Til  Tw  iT  1  m  1 1  rl  1 11  '  i'  Of   A  1 1 » '"1  1 1  \"    "W'W           vl*"  ATI 

j.  *ji  iih.-|ihmpi  uujjliuiik              Uciii^N  |  iivn   x  ui  i\,  ti|>- 

Twit  pfni  vt-1  inn        qtiiI  lwivt  fitrift1  it  Tt 1 1 1  i '"i ti 'i i"w il i < 

Indiana;  Huron,  Michigan;  Saint  Louis,  Mis- 
souri :  Hartford,  Connecticut,  <fcc,  approved 
March  18,  1672   

For  Keform  School.  District  of  Columbia,  ap- 

For  Medical  and  Surgical  History  of  the  Eebel- 



For  reliefs  ) 

$3,  342,  647  86 

$2,  121,  540  86 

For  miscellaneous  5 

Totals  

172,  290,  700  82 

155,  030.  491  27 

170,  424,  600  62 

151,  106,  126  27 

Treasury  Department, 

Warrant  Division,  July  1.  1874. 

"There  appeared  for  the  first  time  in  this  bill  an  appropriation  of  §2.C16,763  for  de- 
fraying expenses  incident  to  the  national  loan  for  the  cuirent  fiscal  year,  the  ap- 
propriations for  that  object  bavins  heretofore  been  indefinite.  There  also  appears 
an  appropriation  for  official  postage-stamps  required  by  the  various  Departments 
of  61.605.SiO0  in  1674.  and  61.707.600  in  1675.  without  any  corresponding  appropria- 
tion in  1873.  To  arrive  at  a  just  comparison  of  the  appropriations  made  at  each 
session  of  Congress  the  amounts  appropriated  for  p  >stage  and  expenses  of  national 
loan  in  1875  and  for  postage  in  1874  should  be  deducted  from  the  totals  of  those 
years,  leaving  the  amendeil  totals. 

This  table  shows  a  reduction  of  619.331.405.62. 

"  In  the  note  appended  to  it.  the  Secretary  properly  states  that  for  the  first  time  the 
annual  bills  of  the  last  session  contained  62.210.763  for  expenses  of  the  national  loan. 

But  the  amount  expended  in  the  preceding  year  for  the  same  purpose  was  62.606.- 
863.04:  and  the  last  session  of  Congress  should  have  been  credited  with  a  further 
reduction  to  the  amount  of  the  difference  between  these  sums,  namely.  $590, 100.94. 
This  item,  added  to  the  amount  of  reduction  stated  by  the  Secretary,  gives  a  re- 
duction of  619.923.506.56. 

The  difference  between  this  amount  and  the  amount  estimated  in  my  speech  of 
June  23.  1?74.  consists  in  the  two  items,  which,  as  I  then  stated,  were  not  included 
in  my  estimate.  One  was  the  64.000  000  appropriated  for  the  naval  emergency 
arising  from  our  trouble  with  Spain,  which  should  not  be  considered  as  a  part  of 
the  ordinary  cost  of  carrying  on  the  Government:  the  other  was  the  aggregate  of 
all  the  relief  aud  pension  ai  ts  passed  at  the  last  session,  which  amounted  to  62.121,- 
540.66:  these  acts  were  not  under  the  charge  of  the  Committee  on  Appropriations, 
and  they  amounted  to  a  larger  sum  than  I  supposed  they  would. 

But  including  the  relief  acts,  and  leaving  out  the  nayal  emergency  appropria- 
tion, the  actual  reduction  in  the  ordinary  appropriations  for  the  public  service  at 
the  last  session  was  624.000.000  less  than  at  the  preceding  session." 


11 


Without — for  my  time  is  passing  away — without  discussing  details, 
this  table  shows  that  in  the  year  eudiug  June  80,  1-71,  all  the  appro- 
priation bills  amounted  to  $170,424,800.84.  And  i » - 1  me  Bay  here  that 
apon  this  part  of  my  subject  relating  to  the  reduction  of  appropria- 
tions I  use  in  treating  of  aggregates  the  sums  of  the  various  appro- 
priation bills,  not  reckoning  tin?  permanent  appropriations,  which  wo 
have  little  or  nothing  to  do  with.  The  work  that  we  are  engaged  in 
in  reducing  expenditures  must  be  done  upon  these  bills.  My  friend 
in  front  of  me  [Mr.  Holmax]  knows  that  with  all  his  desire,  proper 
and  just  as  it  is  to  retrench  and  cut  down  expenditures,  the  perma- 
nent appropriations,  like  that  for  the  interest  on  the  national  debt 
and  some  others,  are  things  with  which  we  cannot  and  do  not  expect 
to  meddle,  .and  so  the  figures  I  give  embrace  that  domain  of  expendi- 
ture which  is  fair  work  for  Congress. 

For  the  year  1874,  as  I  have  said,  the  expenditures  were  $170,434,- 
800.82.  Under  the  leadership  of  the  gentleman  from  Ohio  [Mr.  Gar- 
field] Congress  in  that  session,  the  first  of  the  Forty-third  Congress, 
reduced  the  annual  appropriation  bills  so  that  they  amounted  for  the 
year  eudiug  June  30,  1^75,  to  $151,106,128.27.  Following  this  table 
which  I  have  already  given  are  certain  remarks  made  by  the  gentle- 
man from  Ohio,  who  used  these  same  figures  in  a  speech  made  here  in 
W.*>,  in  which  he  shows,  as  anybody  will  see  who  reads  it,  that  in  ad- 
dition to  this  810,000,000  reduction,  shown  on  these  appropriation 
bills,  the  Committee  on  Appropriations  and  Congress  should  be  cred- 
ited further  with  certain  items — for  instance,  the  emergency  bill  giv- 
ing to  the  Navy  Department,  at  the  time  when  war  was  deemed  to  be 
imminent  with  Spain,  $4,000,000.  In  addition  to  that  the  appropria- 
tion bills  ought  to  be  credited  that  year  with >i  sum  which  had  for- 
merly been  permanent,  to  wit,  the  appropriation  for  the  issuing  of  the 
national  loan,  which  added  to  the  appropriation  bill  something  like 
§3.000,000— a  gentleman  beside  me  says  §3,800,000.  And  the  gentle- 
man from  Ohio,  in  casting  up  what  Congress  should  be  credited  with, 
comes  to  this  conclusion  : 

"Includinj  the  relief  act,  leaving  ont  the  naval  emergency  appropriation,  the 
actual  reduction  in  the  ordinary  appropriations  for  the  public  service  at  the  last 
session  was  $24,000,000  less  than  at  the  preceding  session. 

That  was  then  in  sum  and  substance.  Mr.  Chairman,  the  work  of 
Congress  that  session  in  the  reduction  of  expenditures.  Not  a  small 
work,  sir ;  but  a  great  work  ;  work  done  faithfully,  and,  what  is  bet- 
ter still,  upon  which  there  has  been  no  back  step  taken.  Let  me 
enumerate  here  some  of  the 

REFOKMS  AXD  RETREXCHMEXTS 

made  by  Congress  through  its  organ,  the  Committee  on  Appropriations, 
iu  the  first  session  of  the  last  Congress.  There  was  first  what  I  have 
alluded  to.  the  national  loan  expense,  which  was  formerly  paid  by 
au  indefinite  appropriation  of  a  percentage  on  the  entire  issue,  and 
was  a  thing  as  entirely  in  charge  of  a  Bureau  of  fhe  Treasury  De- 
partment as  is  the  private  business  of  any  gentleman  on  this  floor  iu 
his  own  control.  This  Bureau  spent  83,800,000  a  year,  a  sum  as  large 
as  that  which  ran  the  Government  in  the  first  year  of  the  present  cen- 
tury. There  was  no  let  or  hinderanee  on  that  expenditure.  There  was 
no  limitation  as  to  amount  of  labor.  There  was  no  limitation  as  to 
salaries  paid.  But  the  Committee  on  Appropriations  took  this  evil 
by  the  throat ;  they  took  it  from  this  irresponsible  control  and  trans- 
ferred it  to  a  regular  appropriation  bill,  making  salaries  for  the  em- 
ployes, fixing  the  amount  of  money  to  be  spent  for  materials,  and,  in 


12 


{addition  to  all  this,  reducing  the  amount  spent  over  half  a  million 
dollars.  Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  work  is  done.  My  friend  on  my 
left  [Mr.  Randall]  cannot  do  it  over  again.  He  can  keep  up  on  his 
bills  the  system  brought  in. by  the  old  committee,  but  the  work  is  the 
old  committee's,  not  his. 

There  was  an  evil  of  a  like  kind  in  the  War  Department.  Enlisted 
men  were  allowed  to  be  employed  very  much  as  in  the  Printing  Bu- 
reau, without  any  limitation  or  control,  and  we  found  that  some  hun- 
dreds were  so  employed.  That  evil  was  cured  like  tlie  other,  and  in 
the  same  way.  In  the  naval  bill,  the  Marine  Corps  men  were  reduced 
in  number.  In  the  Army  bill  there  was  a  reduction  of  five  thousand 
men,  so  that  the  Army  to-day  stands  as  a  reduced  organization  by  the 
work  of  the  Forty-third  Congress. 

The  salary  bill  that  passed  in  that  Congress  reduced  salaries  some- 
thing more  than  a  million  dollars.  The 

DEPARTMENTAL  FOUCES 

were  taken  in  hand  by  the  committee  and  after  long  and  arduous  labor 
•were  in  many  places  cut  down.  The  drones  were  driven  out,  the 
force  was  diminished,  and  where  there  had  been  in  a  single  Bureau 
a  hundred  clerks  the  committee  would  cut  down  the  number  to  sixty, 
seventy,  or  eighty,  as  mature  deliberation  showed  it  could  be  done 
without  crippling  the  service  of  the  Government.  The  Committee  on 
Appropriations  reported  to  the  House  a  clause  increasing  the  hours  of 
labor  in  the  Departments,  because  it  believed  that  without  any  op- 
pression upon  employe's  more  time  could  be  spent  by  them  in  labor  to 
the  advantage  of  the  service,  and  it  therefore  provided  for  an  addi- 
tional hour  of  work  each  day. 

We  were  beaten  on  the  floor  of  the  House,  and  the  hours  of  labor 
remained  as  they  had  been  before,  and  so  continued  until  during  the 
past  year,  when  by  order  of  the  different  Departments  an  hour  a  day 
was  added  to  the  work  of  the  clerical  force. 

Nor  let  any  man  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  here  what  I  have  frequently 
heard  upon  this  floor,  that  these  appropriations  are  no  test  of  real 
reduction,  because  reductions  are  frequently  made  with  a  view  to 
deficiencies,  and  that  it  is  simply  a  show,  a  pretext,  and  that  the  de- 
ficiencies for  the  succeeding  year  will  make  it  all  up.  Now,  sir,  it  is 
worth  while  to  look  at  the  deficiencies  bearing  upon  these  reductions. 
Sir,  in  the  succeeding  year  after  this  reduction  by  Congress  the  defi- 
ciency appropriations  amounted  to  but  about  four  million  dollars,  a 
less  sum  than  had  ever  been  called  for  in  ten  years,  so  that  this  reduc- 
tion was  bona  fide,  and  was  carried  out  by  the  Departments. 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  must  hurry  on.  The  good  work  did  not  stop 
here ;  it  did  not  stop  in  1874.  At  the  next  session  of  the  Forty-third 
Congress  the  committee  reduced  the  appropriations  further  by  the 
sum  of  |7,292,817.39,  as  the  table  which  I  hold  in  my  hand  shows.  So 
that  in  those  two  years  there  was  a  reduction  in  the  appropriations 
of  the  Government  of  nearly  $31, 000,000,  and  the  deficiency  bills  for 
that  year,  instead  of  being  increased  by  these  further  reductions  in 
the  two  years  of  the  Forty-third  Congress,  bad  ruu  down  so  that  they 
only  amounted  to  $800,000  for  the  whole  year. 


13 


Third  session  Forty-sec- 
ond  Congress— fiscal 
year  1&74. 

First  session  Forty-third 
Congress— fiscal  year 
1875. 

Second  session  Forty-third 
Congress  fiscal  year  1870. 

§6,  636,  074  61 

$5,  797,  234 

88 

65,  224.  275  36 

9,  858,  147  42 

10,  5!>1.M7 

56 

C.  906,  452  29 

3,  743,  243  .-7 

3,  709,  984 

13 

3.  417,  437  42 

1,  874,  515  00 

3,  454,  965 

92 

1.  420,  272  30 

409,  660  00 

490,  547 

34 

455,  513  03 

.»  i  1),  U4U   «>  I 

1,  494,  491 

11 

1   JOT  4't 

280,  038  57 

298,  655 

86 

301,315  8!» 

36,732,0-25  17 

24,  429,  522 

37 

30,301.332  93 

22,  498,  620  55 

20,  813,  946 

70 

17,  268,  100  33 

6,  46a  977  44 

7, 148, 174 

54 

5,  874,  558  2S 

30,  480,  000  00 

30,  355.  000 

00 

30,  075,  000  00 

20.  057,  132  00 

14,  817,  306 

56 

8,  025,  542  59 

6. 102,  900  00 

5,  463,  000 

00 

6,793.517  50 

1,  899,  000  00 

904,  000 

00 

805,  000  00 

1.  982,  979  59 

2,014,  457 

70 

1,  855,  409  9!< 

6,  496,  602  00 

6,  222,  842 

00 

7,  390,  205  00 

15,  674, 164  29 

16,  951,781 

53 

18,103,574  47 

172,290,700  82 

155,  017,  758  20 

147,714,940  81 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  when  we  have  the  animal  appropriation  hills 
and  know  that  they  are  correct,  and  have  also  got  the  animal  defi- 
ciency hills  for  the  year  succeeding,  we  have  the  question  clinched.  In 
any  appropriation  hill  no  man  can  tell  what  the  reduction  has  heen 
until  he  knows  the  deficiencies  resulting  from  it.  But  in  these  two 
years,  showing  a  reduction  of  appropriations  of  $31,000,000,  which  in 
so  much  lessened  the  hurdens  of  the  people,  the  good  faith  of  the  reduc- 
tion is  shown  by  the  deficiency  hills  lessening  largely  each  year;  and 
herein  let  me  say  a  word  in  regard  to  deficiency  hills.  It  was  one  of 
the 

GREATEST  WORKS  ACCOMl'LISHED  IN  YEARS  PAST  1JY  CONGRESS 

this  holding  the  Departments  inside  the  limit  of  what  had  heen  appro- 
priated. There  had  heen  a  pernicious  practice  for  years  of  spending 
without  regard  to  the  appropriations  and  then  coming  in  for  deficiency 
hills.  But  while  the  deficiencies  for  1870  and  1671  and  following  years 
ranged  from  fourteen  million  to  twentv-three  million  dollars  a  vear, 
in  1674  they  were  hrought  down  to  84,000,000  and  in  1875  to  $800,000. 
For  the  next  year  I  am  told  that,  with  the  exception  of  a  deficiency  in 
the  pay  of  the  Army,  which  is  a  matter  of  computation  only  upon  a 
fixed  rate  of  pay,  an  Indian  deficiency,  and  a  printing  bureau  defi- 
ciency, the  whole  amount  will  he  less  than  s400,000. 

All  this  was,  as  1  have  said,  a  good  work.  It  was  a  work  that  any 
Congress  may  he  proud  of,  and  that  any  committee  which  had  a  share 
in  it  may  he  proud  of.  It  is  a  work  that  any  party  which  sustain t  d 
it  and  carried  it  out  may  be  proud  of.  And  this  reduction  of  defi- 
ciences  the  gentleman  from  Indiana  [Mr.  Holman]  will  hear  me  out 
in  saying  is  not  the  least  but  perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  this  work. 

Now,  sir,  if  I  am  asked  if  my  conclusion  from  all  this  is  that  no  fur- 
ther reduction  can  be  made,  and  that  this  Congress  has  nothing  to  do 
hut  to  take  the  estimates  of  the  Departments,  or  at  best  follow  the  ap- 
propriations of  last  year,  my  answer  is,  Xo  ;  by  no  means. 

Had  this  House  been  of  the  same  political  complexion  as  the  last, 
and  had  the  Committee  on  Appropriations  been  constructed  just  as  it 
was  last  year,  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  would  have  gone  on  in  the  line 
before  inaugurated,  cutting  down  expenses  here  and  there,  always 


14 


with  this  result,  that  each  year's  reduction  would  he  less  easy,  because 
we  should  each  year  approach  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  hase-line  of 
the  actual  needs  of  the  Government.  But  while  admitting  that  there 
is  work  yet  to  do,  I  do  not  mean  that  anybody  here  or  any  man  in 
the  country  who  does  me  the  honor  to  read  what  I  say  shall  he  mis- 
led by  the 

OFT-REPEATED  GET 

as  to  the  extravagant  expenditures  under  the  present  Administration 
or  that  the  republican  party  has  from  year  to  year  added  to  the  bur- 
dens of  the  people  by  its  appropriations  and  expenditures.  I  do  not 
mean,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  it  shall  be  assumed  that  there  is  to  be  and 
could  be  no  check  to  this  wasteful  flow  until  the  democratic  party 
was  placed  at  the  head-gates,  and  I  want  to  warn  my  friend  from 
Pennsylvania  [Mr.  Randall]  that  in  his  efforts  he  does  not  spend  his 
time  and  energies  upon  a  field  that  has  been  already  cropped.  There 
is  ground  that  is  worth  going  over  yet,  and  I  want  to  help  him  in 
going  over  that  ground,  But  I  want  him  to  bear  in  mind  the  French 
proverb,  that  the  man  who  goes  out  after  the  plucked  cherry  comes 
home  empty  handed.  And  this  leads  me  naturally  to  some  scrutiny 
of  the 

AVORK  BEFORE  US  FOR  THE  COMING  YEAR. 

If  any  gentleman  has  been  studying  the  Book  of  Estimates  he  has 
no  doubt  found  upon  page  175  three  parallel  columns  showing  the 
appropriations  for  1876,  the  present  iiseal  year,  the  estimates  for  the 
same  year,  and  the  estimates  of  the  Departments  for  the  succeeding 
year,  that  ending  June  30, 1877,  for  which  we  must  appropriate  in  this 
Congress  and  upon  which  we  are  now  embarked,  one  of  the  bills  being 
that  now  before  this  committee.  Here  are  the  three  columns,  and  they 
show  an  aggregate  of  appropriations  for  the  present  year,  the  one  in 
which  we  are  now  living,  of  $293,166,177.57.  Against  this  are  the  esti- 
mates of  the  different  Departments  for  the  succeeding  year,  amount- 
ing to  $314,612,608.48,  or  $21,446,430.90  in  excess  of  the  appropriations 
for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1876. 


Estimates  for  1877. 

Estimates  for  1876. 

Appropriations  for  1876. 

$2,  865,  378  50 

$2,963,342  10 

62.  963,  562  10 

18,  717,  045  40 

18,  549,  048  03 

19,  034,  265  76 

3,  403.  450  00 

3,  605.  250  00 

3,  403,  250  00 

1,  352,  485  00 

1,  344,  785  00 

1.412,  985  00 

33,  697,  178  50 

31, 641,  526  50 

28.  554,  987  79 

20,  871,  666  40 

19,  096,  567  65 

17,  316,  306  90 

5,  787,  795  64 

6,  851,  681  96 

5, 125,  627  00 

29,  533,  500  00 

30,  500.  000  00 

30,  000,  000  00 

28,  591,  410  30 

26,  299,  469  31 

16,  755,  062  10 

9,  281,  602  19 

9,  914,  378  00 

8,  376,  205  00 

13,  881, 185  79 

12,  591, 169  58 

10,  534,  857  66 

146,  629,  910  76 

146,673,551  76 

149.  689,  068  26 

314,  612,  608  48 

310,  030,  769  89 

293,  166, 177  57 

At  the  first  blush  this  is  not  an  encouraging  feature  to  the  honest 
retrencher,  that  the  Departments  should  call  for  $21,000,000  more  than 
we  appropriated  last  year.  I  am  free  to  own  that  if  we  were  obliged 
to  go  on  and  appropriate  this  additional  amount  it  would  largely  neu- 
tralize the  good  work  of  the  past  years.  But  I  want  to  show  that  not 
only  is  there  no  need,  of  this,  but  that  the  increased  estimates  are  nat- 
ural under  the  system  rmrsued  in  the  different  Departments. 


15 


It  is  no  new  thing  for  Congress  to  be  confronted  by'esti  mates  larger 
than  the  appropriations  of  the  preceding  years.  The  Departments 
look  upon  the  question  of  expenditures  from  one  point  of  view,  Con- 
gress looks  at  them  from  another.  The  Departments  look  at  appro- 
priations and  expenditures  from  the  view  of  accomplishing  all  proper 
things  as  fast  as  possible.  Congress  has  learned  to  look  upon  expend- 
itures from  the  point  of  view  of  only  expending  under  our  present 
enormous  taxation  such  sums  as  are  necessary  for  the  fair  running  of 
the  machinery  of  the  Government. 

Now  this  is  illustrated  by  the  different  Departments  in  which  these 
estimates  are  made  up.  The  table  which  I  here  insert  shows  where 
these  increases  are  found.  I  am  glad  to  say  that  in  the  legislative  es- 
tablishment the  estimates  are  $98,000  less  than  the  appropriations  of 
last  year;  so  that  there  is  no  call  upon  us  for  an  increase  there.  The 
appropriations  for  the  last  year  for  the  executive  establishment  were 
$317,000  more  than  are  asked  for  for  the  next  year  ;  so  that  there  is  no 
question  of  extravagant  estimates  there.  In  the  judicial  establish 
inent  the  appropriations  for  this  year  are  the  same  as  the  estimates  for 
the  next  year  within  s*200.  In  the  Department  of  Indian  Affairs  the 
estimates  are  $002,000  more  than  the  appropriation  of  last  year.  In 
the  Pension  Bureau  the  estimates  arc  $466,000  more  than  the  appro- 
priations of  last  year. 

IX  PUBLIC  WOKKS. 

I  ask  gentlemenHo  bear  the  figures  in  mind.  The  estimates  for 
public  works  are  $11,836,348.20  more  than  the  appropriations  last  year 
for  the  same  purpose.  That  is  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  increased 
estimates  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  has  sent  in  for  the  com- 
ing year.  What  are  embraced  by  public  works?  In  the  first  place, 
every  custom-house,  every  post-office,  and  every  light-house  that  is 
erected  from  Maine  to  California.  If  a  member  is  desirous  of  having 
a  post-office  or  a  custom-house  erected  in  his  district  or  in  his  town,  he 
besieges  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  season  and  out  of  season,  until 
at  last  he  worries  that  official  into  sending  in  an  estimate  of  the  cost 
of  such  a  building. 

If  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  like  the  present  incumbent,  is  a 
firm  man  and  can  say  "no"  when  he  ought  to,  then  a  member  who 
wants  a  post-office  or  a  custom-house  gets  a  resolution  through  this 
House  directing  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  make  an  estimate. 
The  river  and  harbor  bill,  too,  shows  how  these  estimates  are  increased. 
The  Corps  of  Engineers,  who  have  charge  of  those  works,  are  every 
year  directed  by  Congress  to  make  new  surveys.  There  has  not  been 
a  river  or  harbor  bill  passed  by  Congress  for  years  but  at  its  tail  end 
there  is  a  long  list  of  surveys  directed.  The  Corps  of  Engineers  make 
the  surveys,  estimate  what  the  works  will  cost,  and  the  estimates  are 
sent  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  as  a  part  of  the  estimates  of 
the  Department  under  which  the  Corps  of  Engineers  operate. 

So  the  estimates  are  swollen,  and  in  this  one  item  alone  I  am  glad 
to  find  over  eleven  millions  of  the  twenty-one  millions  of  increase. 
That  need  not  trouble  anybody. 

WE  CAN  GET  ALOXG  WITHOUT  ANY  NEW  BUTLblKGS. 

I  am  glad  in  this  to  join  hands  with  ray  friend  the  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Appropriations  in  his  work  of  cutting  down  expendi- 
tures. This  item  last  year  was  $10,785,000.  For  the  next  year  the 
estimate  is  $28,000,000  and  odd.  I  believe  we  can  get  along  with  con- 
siderably less  than  the  $10,000,000  which  we  appropriated  last  year, 
and,  if  so,  then  we  will  have  wiped  out  every  additional  increase  that 


is  called  for  by  the  Book  of  Estimates.  And  the  Secretary  of  the- 
Treasury  is  not  to  be  held  as  himself  responsible  for  these.  He,  sends 
them  in  from  the  other  Departments  as  their  estimates,  made  up  in 
the  manner  that  I  have  indicated.    In  the 

rOSTAL  SERVICE 

there  is  an  additional  deficiency  estimated  at  $905,397.  This  morning) 
Mr,  Chairman,  has  furnished  an  instance  of  the  rule  that  we  may  as 
well  take  home  to  our  breasts  with  reference  to  this  Department : 
'•Those  who  dance  must  pay  the  fiddler."  It'  we  are  continually  put- 
ting upon  the  Post-Office  Department  new  burdens,  giving  it  new 
duties,  ramifying  and  extending  the  scope  of  that  great  Department, 
we  must  be  prepared  (and  I  say  it  advisedly)  within  the  next  five 
years  to  see  the  expenses  of  that  Department  run  up  to  8.")0,000,000  a 
year;  and  it  will  be  nobody's  fault  but  ours. 

The  miscellaneous  items  are  increased  by  $3,347,3*23 — not  as  large 
as  the  others  that  I  have  been  discussing,  but  yet  a  formidable  figure. 
These  are  made  up  largely  of  three  or  four  different  estimates.  For 
public  printing  and  binding  $374,000  increase  is  asked  ;  for  engraving 
and  printing, $316,000 ;  for  surveys  of  public  lands, $335,000  ;  and  the 
estimate  of  amounts  necessary  to  pay  the  judgments  of  the  Court  of 
Claims  is  $1,600,000  more  than  last  yea  r.  If  the  court  is  not  to  render 
judgment  for  these  larger  sums  (and  that  can  easily  be  told  by  inves- 
tigation) there  will  be  no  need  of  appropriating  this  sum. 

As  to  the  survey  of  public  lands,  I  believe  that  we  can  for  one 
or  two  years  get  along  without  going  even  to  the  extent  that  we 
have  appropriated  for  heretofore,  and  that  all  of  this  increase  and 
more  may  be  saved.  This,  then,  disposes  of  $2, 000, 000  of  this  item 
of  $3,300,000.  We  have,  then,  as  far  as  estimates  go,  nothing  formid- 
able to  contend  with.  We  have  a  base-line  to  act  on,  the  appropri- 
ations of  last  year,  and  in  certain  directions,  as  I  have  said,  I  believe 
we  can  still  go  on  and  reduce.  I  for  one  am  desirous  that  the  efforts 
at  reduction  should  be  made  in  the  right  places.  I  give  here  the  tables 
showing  the  appropriations  for  last  year  and  the  estimates  for  the  next 
year  which  I  have  been  discussing  : 


Legislative  establishment : 

Appropriations  for  If 76   $2,  963.  562  10 

Estimates  for  16T7   2,865,373  50 


Appropriations  over  estimates   93, 183  601 

Executive  establishment: 

Appropriations  for  1876   19.034.265  76 

Estimates  for  1877   18,  717,  045  40 


Appropriations  over  estimates    317,  220  36 

Judicial  establishment : 

Estimates  for  1877   3.403,450  00 

Appropriations  for  1876   3,403.250  00 


Estimates  over  appropriations   2u0  00 

Forei<rn  intercourse: 

Appropriations  for  1?76   1.412,985  00 

Estimates  for  1377   1,352,485  00 


Appropriations  over  estimates   60,500  00 

Military  establishment: 

Estimates  for  1877   33.  697, 173  50 

Appropriations  for  1876   28,554,937  79 


Estimates  over  appropriations    5, 142, 190  71 


* 


17 


Naval  establishment : 

Estimates  for  1877   20,  871,  666  40 

Appropriations  for  1876   17,816,306  (J0 

Estimates  over  appropriations   3,555,359  50 

Indian  affairs: 

Estimates  for  1877   5,  7e7,  795  C4 

Appropriations  for  1876    5, 125,  627  00 

Estimates  over  appropriations   662, 168  64 

Pensions : 

Appropriations  for  1876   30,  000,  000  00 

Estimates  for  1877    29,  533,  500  00 

Appropriations  over  estimates   466,  500  00 

Public  works : 

Estimates  for  1877   28,  591,  410  30 

Appropriations  for  1876   16,  755,  062  10 

Estimates  over  appropriations   11,  836,  348  20 

Postal  service : 

Estimates  for  1877    9,  281,  602  19 

Appropriations  for  1876                                  .'   8,376,205  00 

Estimates  over  appropriations   905,  397  19 

Miscellaneous : 

Estimates  for  1877   13,  881, 185  79 

Appropriations  for  1876   10,  534,  857  66 

Estimates  over  appropriations   ,  3,  347,  328  13 

Permanent  appropriations : 

Appropriations  for  1876   149,  689,  068  26 

Estimates  for  1877   149",  629,  910  76 

Appropriations  over  estimates   59, 157  50 

NOW  THE  BILL  THAT  TO-DAY  CONFRONTS  US 

arid  is  the  occasion  rather  than  the  cause  of  what  I  have  said  is  that 
reported  by  the  gentleman  from  New  Jersey^  the  West  Point  Military 
Academy  appropriation  bill.  It  is  a  bill  which  appropriated  last  year 
in  all  $322,240.  It  is  for  all  the  expenses  of  the  Military  Academy :  its 
board  of  professors,  its  cadets,  its  current  incidental  expenses,  and  any 
expenses  necessary  for  its  buildings  and  grounds,  to  keep  them  in  re- 
pair or  to  improve  them  as  the  needs  may  arise. 

This  academy  was  established  by  the  act  of  March  16,  1802.  It  has 
therefore  been  in  operation  seventy-three  years.  It  had  originally  by 
the  act  establishing  it  the  Corps  of  Engineers  as  its  professors.  A  few 
years  subsequently,  in  1812  I  think,  the  grade  of  professor  was  cre- 
ated in  addition  to  the  Army  engineer  officers.  Some  of  these  pro- 
fessors have  been  there  more  than  forty  years.  They  are  men  of  high 
scientific  attainment  j  they  are  men  of  celebrity  in  the  scientific 
world  ;  they  have  given  all  their  strength  and  their  life  to  this  work ; 
and  as  the  result  of  their  work  and  the  work  of  their  associates  there 
has  graduated  from  that  academy  a  corps  of  officers  that,  I  venture 
to  say,  has  never  been  surpassed  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

This  bill  (audi  am  not  going  to  give  very  much  time  to  its  discussion 
now,  as  I  have  certain  figures  and  tables  which  I  will  use  in  the  five- 
minute  debate)  reduces  the  pay  of  all  these  professors.  Now  it  is  not 
within  my  knowledge  for  what  exact  sum  a  professor  in  the  Military 
Academy,  who  has  charge  of  the  education  of  the  young  men  who  may 
be  called,  at  any  moment  of  peril,  to  the  salvation  of  the  country,  can 
live  for  at  West  Point  when  you  drive  him  to  extremities  and  pinch 
2  h 


18 


him  to  the  point  of  spending  no  more  money  than  he  actually  needs. 
But  I  know  that  there  are  certain  demands  on  him,  certain  drains  upon 
his  income,  that  do  not  apply  to  men  elsewhere.  Let  me  read  a  few 
words  from  a  letter  written  a  few  days  ago  by  one  of  these  professors: 

If  you  consider  the  pay  is  too  large  and  ought  to  be  reduced,  let  me  beg  of  you 
to  consider  our  positions  and  circumstances. 

"We  are  stationed  at  the  loveliest  spot  in  America  and  almost  the  most  expensive 
so  expensive  is  it  that  last  year  upon  applying  for  an  officer  of  engineers  to  be  as- 
signed to  duty  with  me  the  officer  wrote  me,  begging  as  a  favor  to  let  him  off,  for 
he  was  educating  a  younger  brother  whom  he  would  have  to  withdraw  from  school 
if  he  were  ordered  here,  notwithstanding  he  would  receive  the  increase  of  pay  by 
coming  here. 

I  assure  you  that  when  stationed  in  Milwaukee,  receiving  the  pay  of  major,  that 
I  was  better  off  in  a  pecuniary  sense  than  I  am  here  with  that  of  lieutenant-colonel. 
"Why  is  this  ?  It  is  for  the  reason  that  we  have  no  local  markets  here,  everything 
conies  from  New  York;  that  we  have  no  educational  facilities  for  our  children, 
who  have  to  be  sent  away  to  be  educated ;  that  the  expense  of  clothing  is  very 
great,  being  obliged  to  wear  the  uniform,  the  cost  of  which  has  steadily  increased ; 
and  our  inability  to  add  to  our  salaries  by  any  outside  work,  from  the  peculiar  na- 
ture of  our  duties. 

[Here  the  hammer  fell.] 

Mr.  RANDALL.    I  hope  unanimous  consent  will  be  given  for  the 
gentleman  from  Maine  [Mr.  Hale]  to  go  on. 
Mr.  HALE.    I  shall  be  through  very  shortly. 

Mr.  RANDALL.  I  ask  unanimous  consent  for  the  gentleman  to  pro- 
ceed. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  Chair  will  remind  the  gentleman  from 
Pennsylvania  [Mr.  Randall]  that  the  ruling  yesterday,  which  was 
a  very  correct  one,  was  that  in  Committee  of  the  Whole  there  is  no 
power  to  extend  any  gentleman's  time. 

Mr.  RANDALL.  Then  I  move  that  the  committee  rise ;  and  I  will 
state  my  object  

Mr.  GARFIELD.  I  suggest  to  the  Chair  that  the  ruling  of  yester- 
day was  made  under  a  special  order  fixing  a  ten-minute  rule.  We 
are  now  under  no  such  special  order.  When  debate  in  Committee  of 
the  Whole  has  been  proceeding  under  the  hour  rule,  the  time  has  fre- 
quently been  extended. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  Chair  will  say  in  response  to  the  gentleman 
from  Ohio  that  in  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  there  is  no  power  to 
change  or  alter  the  rules  of  the  House. 

Mr.  RANDALL.  I  move  the  committee  rise  in  order  to  extend  the 
time  of  the  gentleman  from  Maine. 

Mr.  HOLMAN.  I  think  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  do  that ;  but  with 
the  permission  of  the  Chair  I  will  take  the  floor  and  yield  part  of  my 
time  to  the  gentleman  from  Maine. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  gentleman  from  New  Jersey  [Mr.  Hamil- 
ton] is  recognized. 

Mr.  HAMILTON,  of  New  Jersey.  I  will  yield  to  the  gentleman 
from  Maine  ten  minutes  of  my  time. 

Mr.  HALE.  I  thank  all  these  gentlemen  for  their  courtesy.  So  much 
I  have  said  for  the  professors.  The  cadets  receive  at  present  in  money 
and  rations  what  amounts  to  $608.  The  bill  when  amended  reduces 
this  allowance  to  $540  ;  a  reduction  of  $68.  Not  a  large  sum,  it  may  be 
said ;  but  if  any  man  here  has  ever  at  any  time  in  his  life  been  run- 
ning upon  an  income  of  six  or  seven  hundred  dollars  a  year,  lie  knows 
that  $68  makes  the  difference  between  comfort  and  being  constantly 
pinched.  I  am  told,  and  it  will  be  said  here  of  this  allowance,  that 
the  cadets  receive  nothing  of  it  in  money  except  an  accumulated 
fund  for  an  outfit  when  they  leave  the  academy.    So  much  the  more 


L9 


I  would  not  touch  this  allowance,  because  if  it  is  all  doled  out  to  them 
for  what  they  need,  we  may  be  very  certain  not  a  dollar  of  it  which 
they  get  is  misspent.  There  is,  therefore,  no  argument  here  that  by 
cutting  it  off  they  will  be  kept  down  to  necessary  expenses  and  that 
if  they  had  more  they  would  spend  or  squander  it  in  improper  ways. 

Mr.  Chairman,  these  boys  come  from  every  district  in  the  country. 
They  come  from  the  poor  as  well  as  from  the  well  to  do.  It  is  to-day 
a  possible  thing  for  a  poor  man,  if  he  has  got  a  bright  boy,  and  can 
get  him  into  the  academy,  to  see  that  boy  educated,  on  the  Govern- 
ment allowance  of  $608.  It  is  not  a  large  sum.  There  are  many  gen- 
tlemen here  before  me  who  are  having  boys  educated  at  prepara- 
tory schools  and  colleges,  and  I  would  be  glad  to  have  the  figures 
made  up  statistically  to  show  how  many  keep  their  boys  there,  either 
in  a  preparatory  or  college  course,  for  $600  a  year.  Mr.  Chairman,  I 
for  one  would  spare  this  class.  I  would  let  this  allowance  remain  as 
it  is.  I  would  strike  no  blow,  directly  or  indirectly,  at  this  great 
military  school  of  the  country.  It  has  furnished  to  us,  sir,  some  of 
the  greatest  commanders  of  the  present  age.  It  has  sent  out  a  body 
of  accomplished  gentlemen  and  fine  officers,  and  in  the  late  war  the 
luster  that  gathered  about  the  achievements  upon  both  sides  was 
largely  attributable  to  the  influence  of  the  Military  Academy  at  West 
Point ;  not  by  any  means  exclusively,  for  I  would  not  disparage  the 
services  of  volunteer  officers.  But  it  was  seen  as  the  war  progressed 
that  we  learned  more  and  more  in  important  commands  to  rely  upon 
the  educated  officer  who  had  graduated  at  West  Point.  My  friends  on 
the  then  other  side  will  bear  me  out  that  their  experience  was  in  the 
same  line.  I  would  not  strike  a  blow  by  indirection  at  this  academy 
to-day. 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  there  are  one  or  two  considerations  which  are 
pressing  upon  my  mind.    If  there  is  any 

COMPLAIN!  AMONG  OUR  PEOPLE  A8  TO  CORRUPTION  AMONG  OFFICIALS  OR  AS  TO  EX- 
TRAVAGANCE, 

is  it  upon  the  question  of  salaries  of  professors  at  West  Point,  or  ca- 
dets, or  indeed  upon  salaries  in  general  ?  The  people  have  found  fault 
with  subsidies  granted  to  railroads;  they  have  complained  of  proceed- 
ings growing  out  of  these  grants  of  lands  and  money.  These  things 
have  been  investigated  ;  they  have  been  brought  to  light.  Investiga- 
tion has  actually  slain  some  men ;  it  has  lightened  up  the  characters 
of  others  and  relieved  them  from  suspicion.  This  House  the  other 
day,  on  one  of  these  subjects,  referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judi- 
ciary, the  law  committee  of  the  House,  the  last  stages  of  the  investi- 
gation into  the  Pacific  mail  subsidy.  The  people  demand  that  all 
rings  and  fraudulent  combinations  about  the  Government  shall  be 
broken  up.  There  must  be  no  more  Indian  lings,  no  more  whisky 
rings. 

"Let  no  guilty  man  escape"  met  the  public  demand,  and  there  has 
been  no  slackening  of  this  policy  on  the  part  of  the  Administration. 
We  cannot  legislate  too  closely  on  these  subjects.  We  cannot  sustain 
and  uphold  the  hands  of  the  Administration  too  strongly  to  satisfy 
the  people  to  this  end.  They  complain  of  extravagance  in  public- 
buildings,  enormous  structures,  not  needed  to-day,  and  perhaps  not 
in  the  future.  They  do  complain  and  they  have  the  right  to  com- 
plain on  all  these  subjects.  We  can  all  join  hands  to  reform  and  re- 
trench and  save  money  in  these  and  other  directions;  but  in  the  mat- 
ter of  salaries  fixed  by  our  Government  in  the  different  Departments 
I  ask,  Mr.  Chairman,  whether  there  is  any  gentleman  here  who  be- 
lieves the  people  complain  that  their  public  servants  are  paid  too 


20 


much  ?  Why,  sir,  we  had  that  subject  before  us  to  the  great  discon- 
tent of  some  men  two  years  ago,  and  the  result  of  the  bitter  discus- 
sion on  this  floor  then  was  that  we  settled  down  at  last  upon  the  basis 
of  salaries  which  had  been  kept  for  years,  but  had  been  disturbed 
by  the  back-pay  bill ;  and,  unless  my  observation  is  incorrect,  there 
has  been  peace  upon  the  waters  of  public  opinion  on  this  question  ever 
since.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  there  are  not  some  that  should  be 
reduced.  There  are  cases  where  there  are  inordinate  fees,  where  there 
are  perquisites  which  should  be  cut  down  to  a  regular,  fair  pay.  But 
that  our  officers  generally  are  overpaid  I  do  not  believe,  and  I  do  not 
think  that  the  American  people  believe  it.  There  is  better  work  for 
us  to  do  than  to  be  cutting  down  the  salaries  of  professors  at  West 
Point  or  of  the  cadets  or  the  salaries  of  the  men  in  the  Departments 
here.  But  I  can  freely  join  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Appro- 
priations in  his  work  in  reducing  the  official  force.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  there  are  in  many  instances  too  large  establishments  kept  up. 
There  are  drones  in  the  public  service  who  should  be  driven  out.  But 
our  salaries  to-day  are  small  compared  with  those  paid  by  other  govern- 
ments ;  they  are  small  compared  with  those  paid  in  many  of  the  States 
of  the  Union.  Our  judges  are  not  paid  so  well  as  judges  in  other 
countries  or  in  some  of  the  States.  Our  foreign  ministers  to-day  are 
competing  in  the  courts  of  the  world  with  ministers  who  receive 
double  and  treble  the  pay  which  our  representatives  do.  I  do  not 
believe  that  the  people  demand  that  we  shall  reduce  these  salaries. 
And  I  do  not  believe  that  public  attention  can  be  drawn  from  serious 
things  which  demand  our  interposition  to  this  attempt  to  gain  a  rep- 
utation for  economy  by  striking  at  cadets  and  professors  at  West 
Point,  to  be  followed  up,  I  presume,  by  blows  at  the  other  regular 
establishments. 

[Here  the  hammer  fell.] 

o 


